David Lee Fisher’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror 2023 offers a visually experimental but flawed homage to Murnau’s classic, writes RICHARD MARKWORTH
TITLE: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
RELEASED: 2023
DIRECTOR: David Lee Fisher
CAST: Doug Jones, Emrhys Cooper, Sarah Carter, Edgar Allan Poe (Eddie Allen), Jack Turner, Joely Fisher
Review of Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror 2023
F. W. Murnau’s silent horror Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) was an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which eventually became a classic of vampire cinema. Over a century later, it still retains the power to chill.
The iconic make-up worn by star Max Schreck as Count Graf Orlok (Dracula, renamed to avoid copyright) has had a lasting influence on pop culture. The pointed ears, bald scalp and sharp incisors created an instantly recognisable image of monstrous evil.
It is little wonder, then, that Murnau’s masterpiece has attracted filmmakers eager to reimagine it. In 1979, Werner Herzog delivered his atmospheric Nosferatu the Vampyre, starring Klaus Kinski as Dracula. More recently, in 2024, Robert Eggers offered his hauntingly beautiful interpretation, with Bill Skarsgård as Orlok.
However, one lesser-known remake slipped in a year earlier.
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (2023), written and directed by David Lee Fisher, takes a novel approach by using green screen technology to insert modern actors into colourised backdrops lifted from Murnau’s original. The result is a near shot-for-shot remake, but with added dialogue.
The story itself will be familiar to anyone who’s watched a Dracula adaptation. Emotionally stunted estate agent Thomas Hutter (Emrhys Cooper), the Jonathan Harker figure, leaves his young wife Ellen (Sarah Carter) in the town of Wisbourg to travel to Transylvania. His manic boss Herr Knock (Edgar Allan Poe – not that one) has tasked him with finalising a deal with the mysterious Count Orlok (Doug Jones), who wishes to purchase a dilapidated slaughterhouse opposite Hutter’s home.
Unknown to Hutter, Knock is in league with the Count, corresponding with him via blood-smeared letters written in an occult script.

Ellen, meanwhile, is plagued by dreams of a dark “shadow” that both attracts and terrifies her. Despite her unease, Hutter places her in the care of his friend Wolfram Harding (Jack Turner) and Harding’s sister Ruth (Joely Fisher), whose spinster status is very much code for “lesbian”.
Upon arriving in Transylvania, Hutter receives dire warnings from locals about Orlok’s castle. He conveniently finds a book on vampire lore which, naturally, becomes helpful later. Ignoring local superstition, Hutter proceeds with his mission and becomes a guest of the sinister Count.
Orlok’s appearance and behaviour prove deeply unsettling. At one point, he tries to lick blood from Hutter’s thumb after a mishap with a breadknife. He also shows a disturbing fascination with a picture of Ellen.
The next morning, Hutter discovers two puncture wounds on his neck, which he dismisses as insect bites. Inevitably, the truth dawns and the race begins to escape the castle and save Ellen from Orlok’s impending arrival in Wisbourg.
Fisher’s Nosferatu is a curious creation. The green screen backdrops do link visually to the 1922 original, but the disconnect between the modern actors and the static backgrounds is stark. The effect feels more like a motion comic than live action.
This may have been an intentional choice to create a dreamlike atmosphere, but the result feels distancing.
Still, there are moments of genuine creepiness. Orlok’s clawed hand emerging from a coffin of soil aboard a doomed ship, and the scene where the vampire’s shadow creeps over Hutter’s bed, both offer chilling highlights.
Doug Jones, known for his creature roles in Hellboy (2004) and The Shape of Water (2017), delivers a predictably strong physical performance. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast fares poorly.
Cooper, as Hutter, lacks both charisma and nuance, delivering his lines with the stiffness of an untrained stage actor. Poe (AKA Eddie Allen) is absurdly over the top as Knock, turning the role into a parody.
Carter is somewhat more convincing as Ellen, though it’s hard to take her nocturnal suffering seriously when she looks freshly styled from hair and make-up before each nightmare.
Despite the German setting, not one actor attempts a German accent, lending the production an amateur dramatics feel. The inclusion of a mockney asylum attendant only compounds the tonal confusion.
It’s been said this project was a labour of love for Fisher. But it’s unclear whether the film is meant as a tribute, a spoof, or a way to repackage a silent classic for modern audiences.
Whatever the aim, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (2023) is an interesting but unnecessary oddity. For those curious about Nosferatu’s eerie legacy, Murnau’s 1922 original remains the definitive version. A century on, it still casts the longest shadow.
Tell us your thoughts about Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror 2023 in the comments section below!